Moving On

After the euphoria of an exhibition, moving on to a new body of work is quite hard. While there can be the temptation to just do more on the old theme, it feels instinctively right to move on to a new challenge and build up a new fascination and absorption. It is not as if the shift is massive. The media and techniques are all familiar and only the subject matter will be different, so I have taken the plunge. The new theme is about the "high country." While I appreciate that Australia is not over-endowed with mountains, it is a part of the country that we have walked in extensively over the years.

Earlier in the year, before the winter set in and the snow fell, and in anticipation of my new theme, we had a day walk to Mt Erica, at the lower end of the Victorian Alps, so that I could take lots of photos to add to ones I already have on file.

With the exhibition over I was all ready to go. Drawing seems to me a good way to examine and get to know an object so I have been drawing all sorts of different details from the alpine environment, using my photo references. When I feel that I have enough understanding and enough material, then I will move on to thinking about making art from this “drawing.”